A Conspiracy to Commit Murder
by Wyn G. Aarden
Summary: Warnings: Mention of killing Akito, author who obviously doesn't LIKE Akito, Kyo's POV, mental instability, my own personal take on the curse. Pairings: Vaguely mentioned. Summary: The Juunishi, tired of both Akito and the curse, conspire to murder Akito


Title: A Conspiracy to Commit Murder (aka Die, Akito, die!)  
  
Author: Wyn G. Aarden (aka Gwynn Whitelock) Warnings: Mention of killing Akito, author who obviously doesn't LIKE Akito, Kyo's POV, mental instability, my own personal take on the curse. Pairings: Vaguely mentioned. Summary: Akito must die. No, wait! Akito must die because it's the only way to break the curse, so the Juunishi must conspire to commit murder, but this does not necessarily go as planned....  
  
A Conspiracy to Commit Murder  
  
Chapter 1: Conspiracy  
  
We've had enough of Akito.  
  
My name is Kyo Sohma. Call me Kyo. Or something.  
  
"What about 'baka neko'?"  
  
"Shut up, kuso nezumi!"  
  
"Now now, this isn't the time to fight, boys."  
  
"Shigure is right, we need to concentrate."  
  
Right. Here we are, twelve of us, sitting together in one place. It's amazing, Kagura hasn't tried to beat me up, nor has Yuki, though not for lack of wanting to. We sit at a round table, Yuki and Ayame, Ritsu and Hatsuhara, Kisa and Hiro, Hatori and Shigure, Rin and Kagura, Momiji and I. Only Kureno is missing, because if he were here, He would know.  
  
Akito Sohma. Our enemy.  
  
Let me start from the beginning, which was many centuries ago, back when emperors still ruled Japan.  
  
Once upon a time, there was a great emperor, who was said also to be a mighty sorceror. He invited the thirteen most powerful animal gods to dine with him at a formal gathering.  
  
All the animals, Rat and Snake, Monkey and Ox, Tiger and Ram, Dragon and Dog, Horse and Pig, Rabbit, Cat and Rooster were invited, and it was important that they all be on time.  
  
However, the sorceror became a small bird and flittered amongst them, visiting first the Rat.  
  
"Ah," the Bird said to the Rat, "if you are first to the emperor's feast, you will gain great power over the other animals, even the Cat."  
  
"Oh," but the Rat said, "the Cat will surely catch me swiftly."  
  
"Not if you deceive the Cat first," said the Bird, "and no other animal will be able to stop you."  
  
"Yes," said the Rat, "I will do it."  
  
The Bird flew away, speaking next to the Ox.  
  
"Have you heard?" said the Bird, "the first one to enter the emperor's hall will be granted great strength."  
  
"Oh," said the Ox, "what need will I have of great strength, I am content to be docile. I don't wish to be feared."  
  
"Remember my words," said the Bird.  
  
Perhaps it would be good to be strong, thought the Ox, who vowed to wake as early as possible, so he would be first.  
  
The Bird went to each of the animals, telling them this tale and that, save the Cat, whom he left alone, convinced the Rat would do his work for him. He then returned to his palace and began to wait.  
  
And so, the animals arrived one by one, first the Rat who rode on the Ox's back, jumping off when they arrived, because the Ox, will all his great strength, could not feel the small Rat.  
  
Upon entering the palace, they became beautiful men and women and began to feast upon the dishes the emperor served.  
  
Not long after the feast, though, all the animal gods became quite ill, and found that they could not become animals again. They began to argue, each accusing the other.  
  
Finally, the emperor stood before them.  
  
"You are all fools!" cried the emperor. "You think that you will become powerful, and though you are willing to deceive and hurt the other animals for that power, it shall never be yours!"  
  
The animals looked to each other in confusion.  
  
"Rat," the emperor began. "You entered first, and as promised, you will be more powerful than any here. Your strength will be incredible, though all shall shun you for your betrayal of the Cat."  
  
"Ox," the emperor continued. "You arrived second, and you desire strength, so it must be that you no longer wish to be docile, though your strength is what caused you to fail in arriving first. I give you strength, second only to that of the Rat, but your sweet temper is now half gone, and replaced with dangerous anger which will use your strength to hurt others."  
  
And so the emperor continued, telling the clever Monkey it would be clumsy and foolish, the disgrace of all animals, the Rabbit that it would always be small and helpless in the face of adversity, the Dragon that it would hurt those it cared for and only be able to destroy old memories, the Snake that it would be vain and uncaring, the Tiger that it would be cowardly, the Ram that it would be cruel, the Rooster that it would only signal death, the Pig that it would harm those it cared for passionately and the Horse it (I don't know anything about horse-girl).  
  
And then... came the Cat.  
  
The Cat was angry beyond compare. It hissed and snarled though it still wore the form of a cat, not the human form that the others bore.  
  
"I am deceived!" Cat hissed. "Rat lied to me, and none of you ever tried to help me, you are all selfish and cruel. Why are you all still humanoid? Why do you bow before this human emperor. I will NEVER bow before him!"  
  
The Cat turned to the emperor and changed. It became a horrible distortion of the Cat, as if the spirit of vengeance had entered it, and made beautiful Cat ugly. It charged the emperor, who threw a string of black and white beads around it's neck, causing it to immediately shrink to a man, and it bore the string of beads around one wrist.  
  
The emperor sat back, exhausted, and he discovered that he had been bitten by the vengeful Cat. Furious, the emperor added a final curse to the animals.  
  
"You will never bear the touch of a human being!" he shouted. "Not one of you may be embraced by a human of the opposite gender to your own! And you, Cat, will be restrained for all time, for you are worst of all. Let the years mark the passing of the Juunishi into my hall, each year a reminder of your folly. Go, now!"  
  
One by one, the now human animals filed out, to make their way amongst the people. They called themselves the Sohma, the Cursed Ones. Soon, they discovered it to be true. They found mates and avoided embracing them, and the Dragon erased their memories of the Sohmas they had been with, for the final curse was the worst, when a male was embraced by a female, they became their former animal self, frightening the woman away.  
  
After many generations, the Sohmas became a large family, one shrouded in secrets. Not all of the Sohmas transformed, only one of each animal, and only one of a each kind of animal at a time. The Cat was kept in a cage, carefully restrained while the vengeful Cat grew stronger.  
  
Finally, the last curse was laid... all the transforming Sohmas had to serve the decendant of the emperor, one who was born into the Sohma family, and identified by the rooster, for the decendant of the emperor remained ill, and when he died, the transforming Sohmas soon followed.  
  
And then, it came upon a day, when Yuki the Rat and Kyo the Cat met a young woman by the name of Tohru, who decided that it was time for the cycle of hate and vengeance to come to an end.  
  
So that's what happened. I'm that vengeful Cat, and I'm sick of it. Fighting Yuki won't get me accepted, the emperor never wanted that. Nor does Akito. He wants Yuki and I to keep fighting, because we won't break the curse. Tohru helped us see that.  
  
Now, I know what you're thinking, why wouldn't Akito want the curse broken. Doesn't he want to stop dying?  
  
Well, to that I'd say Akito is a sadistic bastard. He likes seeing us suffer because he is, and there's no way he'd let us be free of the curse, even if it would help him. He's got too much emperor in him.  
  
But we're tired of it. We're tired of being abused. Hatori lost his Kana. I was treated like a freak by my own mother. Yuki was abused by Akito, I don't know exactly what happened, but I'm not about to ask. Kisa and Hiro can't grow up loving each other without being afraid because of Akito. Tohru is constantly threatened by him. I don't know about Ayame and Shigure. They're pretty fruity, but they never told us this was a bad idea, so I'm guessing they approve. Ritsu's got the spine of a jelly-fish because of Akito telling everyone that he's pathetic and useless. And Kureno who can't even be here is trapped by Akito's side, waiting to tell him death approaches.  
  
Still, individual cases weren't enough to pull us together, until Yuki and I found out that after graduation, he would be forced to return to Akito, and I was going to be locked up. Worse, Tohru's memories of us would be removed. Maybe Yuki and I don't get along, but neither of us want anything to happen to Tohru. We're, ah, kinda like that.  
  
So, we talked to the others, and here we are.  
  
"So," Yuki asks, looking at each one of us, "what are we going to do about Akito?"  
  
"Why don't we just kill him," I mutter.  
  
"We can't do that, then we'll all die," Yuki points out. Damn Rat. Everyone begins to mutter to each other.  
  
"It seems to me as if by allowing Akito to die of illness, we are continuing the curse," Momiji says. We all stop and stare at him. That Rabbit is pretty smart at times. "Because of the way the emperor died, through illness, and because he was ill he cursed our ancestors, it seems that the only way is to kill Akito before he can curse us, so the next generation of Juunishi are no longer cursed."  
  
Hatori nods thoughtfully. "It could work. How would we kill him?"  
  
"I don't know," Momiji admits.  
  
"What if he curses the one who kills him?" Ritsu asks nervously. Fruity Monkey's right.  
  
"Then we're back where we started," I say. Damn, this is a LOT harder than I thought.  
  
There's a faint click. I look around, but no one's here but us.  
  
tbc... 


End file.
